Posted on 09/07/2015 6:10:06 AM PDT by Fennie
Obama is the wrong side of everything but so is Putin. Would be best to be rid of both of them. Russia is our enemy anyone who fails to understand that hasn’t a clue.
I think there is some sort of neutral zone between borders for flying?
You can’t have it both ways. Pragmatic is not moral. Yes, we have a pragmatic relationship with head chopping, Waahabist Saudi Arabia. And it is a necessary evil wrapped up in diplomacy but it is not a “moral” arrangement.
Is the Pope funding armed groups across the globe like Saudi Arabia is? Why are you defending the Saudis? After your charge that you could not care less about the plight of Christians I have to ask.
You can be pragmatic and moral. There is nothing wrong or immoral with having diplomatic relations with governments you don’t like or have differences with. It is called diplomacy, something I practiced for 28 years.
Why are you defending the Saudis? After your charge that you could not care less about the plight of Christians I have to ask.
I am not defending them, just explaining the nature of our relationship. I spent five years in the Kingdom as a diplomat. I have a more nuanced view of them than you do.
So how is that different than what every other nation does?
The same thing could be said about Saddam Hussein.
Peddlers of Evil
Very few Americans seem to understand that Fundamentalist Muslim terrorists now threaten to destroy not only the United States but all of Western Civilization, and even fewer seem to be aware that the source of this threat is Saudi Arabia. It is almost never mentioned in the Liberal dominated news media that the Saudis have not only bankrolled these Fundamentalist Islamic terrorists, but they have also provided the bulk of its foot soldiers, leadership cadres and, of course, Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network.
For over fifty years, the Saudis have sent out their Fundamentalist Muslim missionaries to spread their Wahabi sect of Fundamentalist Islam throughout the Mid East and around the world. In every country with Muslim populations, Saudi Madrassas (boarding schools/orphanages) have been constructed and staffed with Islamic Fundamentalist hate mongers. These Madrassas have provided a free education to any male Muslim child (females receive no education in the Muslim world) who wished to attend. In addition to a basic education, Saudi Madrassas have indoctrinated their pupils in Fundamentalist Wahabi Islam that taught them to hate all infidels (non-believers), especially the United States and Israel. These Muslim students have been taught from childhood that it is their God’s will that they endeavor to either kill or convert to Islam anyone who does not worship their God, and if they should die while obeying this edict, they will go to Heaven.
Like Arab rug merchants, Saudi hate-mongers have peddled their evil brand of Islam from the Balkans to Chechnya, Algeria, Pakistan, and Indonesia. Every place they have set up their Madrassas and indoctrinated their followers with Fundamentalist Islam, Muslims have begun to murder their non-Muslim neighbors. It is from these Saudi Madrassas that most Muslim terrorists and suicide (homicide) bombers have been recruited, and it was from these same Madrassas that the September 11 attackers came. But not for Saudi funding, these mad men would still be in their desert hovels, abusing their women, loving their livestock, and worshiping a God who has more in common with Satan than he has with the God of Judeo-Christianity.
Turns out that was a mistake too.
I can’t disagree. This seems to be the reality of it.
How soon we forget... http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-conflict-president-assad-finally-turns-on-isis-as-government-steps-up-campaign-against-militant-strongholds-9679480.html
And plenty of Chechens going there too.
You lived for 5 years in that shit hole tribal mafia where they go around head chopping for allah and you have a nuanced view?
So is it also a nuanced view that you don't care if Christians are protected in Syria?
Most nations don’t care about human rights.
Actually, Saudi Arabia is very modern with all kinds of first world amenities. It was the only place I have ever lived where they picked up the garbage every day. Excellent roads, water you can drink out of the tap, modern shopping malls and supermarkets, outstanding hotels and restaurants, etc. No alcohol, sexual apartheid, religious police (mutawa), extreme heat, and other cultural irritants can detract from life there. Of course, diplomats can insulate themselves from most of it, including alcohol. So can the Saudi elites.
Crime is very low there thanks to the head and other appendage chopping. When I was there, it was very safe. I have lived in some hellholes, Saudi Arabia was not one of them.
So is it also a nuanced view that you don't care if Christians are protected in Syria?
You fail to note the context of my comments. Protecting Christians is not a reason to keep Assad in power.
And your context did not go over my head: Protecting Christians is not a reason to keep Assad in power.
It is if there are no other "gaddam" alternatives. And you know there is none in Syria. And Assad's regime has a verifiable record of protecting Christians.
No wonder Trump is winning if this is the kind of thinking found in the McCain wing of the GOP!
So you are OK with living in a totalitarian state like Saudi Arabia because they pick up the garbage daily. Got it.
I was assigned there by my country. I served there during the entire Gulf War, Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Scuds were launched on Riyadh and Dhahran where I went during the war. I also went up to Kuwait three days after the war was over and saw the burning oil fields and destruction wrought by Saddam. I am OK putting my butt on the line for my country whether it was Vietnam, Iran, or Saudi Arabia. What have you done for God and country?
It is if there are no other "gaddam" alternatives. And you know there is none in Syria. And Assad's regime has a verifiable record of protecting Christians. i.
Assad is a murderous tyrant. He has committed documented war crimes. Why you keep defending him is beyond me.
No wonder Trump is winning if this is the kind of thinking found in the McCain wing of the GOP!
I support Trump above anyone else in the race.
And Assad is a killer? So what? He kills the kind of people I don't want running a country with a Christian minority.
At least we agree on Trump.
Some newbies are trolls. I have no idea what your motivation is for being here, but you don't sound like a conservative.
And Assad is a killer? So what? He kills the kind of people I don't want running a country with a Christian minority.
You have no idea what kind of people he is killing and in what numbers. From the State Department's 2014 Human Rights Report:
Syria is a republic ruled by the authoritarian regime of President Bashar Asad. The president makes key decisions with counsel from a small number of security advisors, ministers, and senior members of the ruling Baath (Arab Socialist Renaissance) Party. The constitution mandates the primacy of Baath Party leaders in state institutions and society. President Asad and party leaders dominate all three branches of government. A 2007 yes-or-no referendum that was neither free nor fair by international standards confirmed Asad as president for his second seven-year term.
Parliamentary elections held in May 2012 were also neither free nor fair by international standards, and several opposition groups boycotted them. The civil war, which started in 2012, continued throughout the year. The regime maintained control over the southern coastal governorates. Fragmented opposition groups maintained control in several northern and central areas, in many cases establishing new or reconstituted governance structures, including irregularly constituted courts. Some areas remained contested, including the northeastern Kurdish-dominant areas.
The regime regularly attacked areas under opposition control. Government-controlled regular security forces and irregular militias (“shabiha”) associated with the government committed widespread human rights abuses. Opposition armed forces consisted of diverse groups with varying ideology and goals. The political opposition largely coalesced under a new political entity, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces.
The Asad regime continued to use indiscriminate and deadly force to quell protests and conducted air and ground-based military assaults on cities, residential areas, and civilian infrastructures, including schools and hospitals throughout the country. For example, on August 21, the regime used sarin gas and artillery to target East Ghouta and Moadamiya al-Sham, suburbs of Damascus, and killed over 1,000 persons. In July the United Nations announced that more than 100,000 persons had been killed since the beginning of the crisis in March 2011.
In December the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) estimated that more than 125,835 persons had been killed. As the civil war intensified, the humanitarian situation reached crisis proportions. As of September 1, more than 2.2 million refugees had registered with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in neighboring states and North Africa, and more than 6.5 million persons were displaced internally. The figures for internally displaced persons were estimates; actual figures may have been higher.
The regime blocked access for humanitarian assistance to reach civilian areas, particularly areas held by opposition groups. The most egregious human rights problems during the year were the regime’s widespread and systematic attacks against civilians; systematic and widespread use of torture; and the perpetuation of massacres, forced displacement, and starvation.
The government denied citizens the right to change their government peacefully. The government denied citizens the right to practice freedom of speech, mobility, association, access to legal representation, and medical assistance. The government detained tens of thousands of individuals associated with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), human rights activists, journalists, humanitarian aid providers, and doctors without access to fair trial. Other serious problems included kidnappings and disappearances; targeted killing of protesters, bystanders, journalists, and medical professionals; torture and abuse, including of women and children; the use of rape and assault as punishment and a war tactic; poor prison and detention center conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; denial of fair public trial; arbitrary interference with privacy; and lack of press, internet, and academic freedom.
The government continued to restrict NGOs and individual activists from organizing, especially those working on civil society and democracy issues. The regime consistently limited medical providers’ access to those in critical need. The government continued to restrict freedoms of religion and movement. In the midst of increases in human trafficking, a problem exacerbated by the conflict, there was no progress on laws or practices combating trafficking in persons. Violence and societal discrimination against women and minorities continued, and workers’ rights remained restricted.
Impunity was pervasive and deeply embedded, as the government did not attempt to punish, arrest, or prosecute officials who violated human rights. The regime often sheltered those in its ranks who committed human rights abuses. Corruption was rampant throughout the government, and the judiciary lacked independence.
According to reports from the United Nations, international media, and human rights organizations, government-linked paramilitary groups engaged in widespread violations and abuses, including perpetuating massacres, the use of rape as a war tactic, kidnapping, and unlawful detention. Government forces and affiliated militias, including Lebanese Hizballah, have repeatedly targeted civilians, including in a May siege on al-Qusayr, the fall sieges on the Damascus suburbs of East Ghouta and Moadamiya al-Sham, and the August 21 use of chemical weapons on civilians.
The UN Human Rights Council held an urgent debate to urge the regime to halt the assault on al-Qusayr and allow humanitarian assistance to enter, but government forces continued their attack, regaining the city on June 5 after launching large-scale artillery and air strikes. Some armed extremist groups also engaged in abuses, including massacres, bombings, and kidnapping; unlawful detention, torture, and summary execution of security force members, government supporters, pro-government militia members, minorities, religious figures, activists, journalists, and humanitarian aid workers; and forced evacuations from homes based on sectarian identity.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.